Hands on with ZTE Blade Velocity

Meet ZTE’s high-spec, affordable new smartphone

ZTE produces all manner of smartphones, from basic phones to powerhouses set to rival the Sonys and Samsungs of the mobile world. And this time round, we’ve got both top specs and an affordable price. Meet ZTE Blade Velocity…

Build

It terms of looks, there’s no denying this smartphone’s got them. The slim design is complemented by the metallic rear, while the Android navigation buttons, positioned under the screen, are only illuminated when touched - giving it a really minimalist aesthetic.

The camera bump is almost non-existent (measuring just 1mm), and the headphone input slices into the back of the phone, which although a bit unusual, pays homage to the clean-cut build.

Camera

On the back of the handset is a 13MP camera in place to offer high quality photos and video. With autofocus technology built in you’ll never have to wait around to highlight the subject of your photo, and the LED flash will make sure everything’s always bright and clear.

On the front of the phone is a 5MP lens, perfect for all your selfie needs. And you’ve also got the capability to video call anyone, no matter where they are in the world. For a great face-to-face experience on Android, we’d recommend Google’s new video-chatting service, Duo.

Performance

As we said earlier, this smartphone offers high quality spec for its sub-£200 price tag. And that notion extends to the internal components, too. There’s a 1.3GHz octa-core processor on hand to make sure you’re not slowed down by multitasking, and 16GB of internal storage so you’ve got plenty of space for apps, games and photos.

If that’s not enough, there’s also space for a microSD card up 128GB, so you’ll never have to worry about running out of storage.